Can-shaping machine



. Jill '27, 1926.

1,593,607 6. T. SMALL CAN smmue momma 7 Filed Jan. '19. 1923 2Sheets-Sheet 1.

INVENTOR C. T($MALL ATTORNEY guiy 27 1926.

, 1,593,607 C. T. $MALL CAN SHAPING MACHINE 1EB-69 75 70 21 LM INVENTORATTO EY Patented .iuiy 27, 192%.

UNITED s'ra'rss CHESLEY T. SMALL, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

CAN-SHAPING MACHINE.

Application filed January 19, 1923. Serial No. 613,635.

In the manufacture of cylindrical paper receptacles, which I havereferred to for convenience throughout the specification and claims ascans, it is desirable to reduce or neck in the ends of the can so thatwhen the ends or caps are in position, the can will be of uniformoutside diameter throughout its entire length. Although the desirabilityof such can construct-ion, both for coiwenience inapplying labels andpacking the can, is evident, it has not come into general use becausethe machines and methods heretofore in use on sheet metal cannot besuccessfully applied to paper cans. I have found, however, that the endsof paper cans can be successfully reduced or necked in by applying tothem a rolling and compressing action between an inner and an outermember both approximating to the size and shape of the can andeccentrically positioned with respect to each other at the time ofoperation, so as to produce a planetary movement.

ltis the object of the present invention to produce a simple andeffective machine, 'operatingon the principle above outlined,forreducing or necking in the ends of paper cans.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate a machine made inaccordance with my invention, Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2 is afront view; F ig. 3 is an enlarged section taken on the line 33 of Fig.2; Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4:& of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is anenlarged vertical section through one of the forming heads, Fig. 6 is anenlarged sectional View showing the manner of supporting the lowerforming head; Fig. 7 is a section through one of the forming heads andits co-operating roll carrying member, the section through the forminghead being taken on the line 77 of Fig. 5; Fig. 8 is a view similar toFig. 7, the sec-- tion through the forming head being taken onthe line88 of Fig. 5, and a modified form of roll carrying member being shown;Fig. 9 is a detail view showing the stop for the roll carrying memberand Fig. 10 is a sectional view of a can body formed by my machine witha cap applied to one end.

1 indicates a column forming the main part of the frame of the machineand terminating at its lower end in a base 2 and at its upper end in atable 3.. Secured to the table 3 by bolts at passing through slots 5 isa casting 6 forming a gear casing and carrying a spindle 7, on whichismounted the upper forming head to be hereinafter described. The slots5 allow of the adjustment of the casting 6 on the table 3 to align theforming heads. Keyed on the shaft 7 is a sleeve 8 (Fig. 33) carrying apair of n'ntre gears 9. 10 is a mitre gear mounted on a shaft 11carrying tight and loose pulleys 12 and 13, by means of which power iscommunicated to the machine. The sleeve 8 is provided with an annulargroove engaged by a fork 14 carried on a plate 15. Carried on the plate15 are a pair of threaded studs 16 projecting through slots 17 in thefront of the casing 6 and engaged by nuts 18. By loosening the nuts 18the plate 15 may be raised or lowered, carrying with it the sleeve 8 andthus bringing one or the other of the mitre gears 9 into engagement withthe gear 10 to drive the spindie '7 in either direction as desired.

Carried on the lower end of the spindle 7 is the upper forming headconsisting essentially of a chuck 20, adapted to enter the can body 21,and a surrounding annular member 22 which I have termed a crimpingmember. The chuck has a central aperture 23 provided with a threadedportion 24 to receive a correspondingly threaded portion on the lowerend of the spindle 7 The periphery of the chuck 20 is provided with anoffset 25 and the member 22 with an offset 26. The larger internaldiameter of the chuck 20 is somewhat less than the internal diameter ofthe can body 21, to be operated upon, and the smaller internal diameterof the member 22 somewhat greater than the external diameter of saidbody so that when these parts are in concentric relation, as shown inFig. 5, the end of the can may readily be entered between them. Themember 22 is provided with an inward ly projecting flange 27overlappinga shoulder 28 on the chuck and having its inner edge beveledas shown at 29. A ring 30 having a lower beveled face 31 bears on theface 29. The faces 29 and 31 are normally held in contact by springs 32situated between the ring 30 and a backing member 33 screwed onto athreaded collar 34 on the chuck 20. A look nut 35 retains the backingmember 33 in position. Sliding pins 36 prevent relative rotation betweenthe ring 30 and backing member 33. The pressure of the ring 30 on theface 29 not only tends to keep the chuck 20 and member 22 in concentricrelation, but also forces the face of the flange 27 against the face ofthe shoulder 28 to frietionally drive the crimping member from thechuck. hen, during the operation of forming the can body, the crimpingmember is moved into eccentric relation to the chuck, the ring 30 willbe forced toward the backing member 33 and at the same time the pressurebetween the ring and flange will be concentrated a; one point, thustending to tip the ring out of the horizontal plane. In order that thistendency to tip the ring may not cause binding of the parts, I providethe ring with a ball race containing anti-friction balls adapted to bearagainst the face of a bearingring 38.

The lower forming head is a duplicate of the upper head above describedand its parts a e similarly numbered. The lower head has screwed intoits central aperture 23 a bushing (Fig. adapted to receive the upper endof a shaft ii, a ball bearing being interposed to allow the lower chuckto rotate on the shaft with the minimum of friction. The shaft 4:1 isslidingly mounted in a bracket on the column 1 in alignment with thespindle 7. On the shaft 41 are a pair of adjustable set collars si l and4 5 respectively. The upper collar limits the upward movement of theshaft t1. 'Movement'is imparted to the shaft through a compressionspring t6 bearing at one end on the collar l5 and at the other onasleeve l? slidingly mounted on i the shaft. rr'pin 48, carried by thecollar, is

ill

engaged by the slotted end of an arm 49 pivoted at 50 to 3. lug 51 onthe column 1 and provided with a bifurcated rearward e);- tension Theextension 52 is connected by a link 53 with an operating treadle pivotedat 55 to the base 2. Projecting laterally from the extension 52 is a bar56'carrying set screw 57 adapted to strike against the column 1 and thusform an adjustable stop for limiting the downward movement of the lowerforming head. Securedto the end of thebar 56 a counterpoise 58 forbalancing the weight of the crimping member and shaft. The counterpoiseis removable so that it may be replaced by one of different weight whena crimping member of different sizeis used.

Pivoted to the extension 52 at 60 is a connecting rod 61 extendingupwardly and passing through a lug (32 on one arm of a bell-crank leverpivoted at 64 to a lug on the column 1. The rod 61 is threaded toreceive a pair of jam nuts 65 forming an adjustable abutment adapted toengage the lug G2 to actuate the bell-crank lever. A link 66 connectsthe second arm of the bel -crank lever with a sleeve 67 adjustablymounted on a threaded rod 68 carried by a slide 69 mounted between thetable 3 and easing 6. Carried on the forward end of thezslide 69 is aroll casing 70. The casing '70 is preferably provided with two rolls 71,as shown in Figs. 2 and 7, but a single roll may be used as shown inFig. 8. The object of the roll or rolls 71 is not only to move thecrimping member into eccentric relation to the chucks 20 (as shown inFig. 8} but at the same time to rotate the lower chuck from the upperone. through the medium of the members 22, thus relieving the torsion onthe can bodywhich would otherwise be required to transmit all the powerfor driving the lower chuck. Usually the metal of the roll or rolls 71may come directly in contact with the metal of the members \Vhcn,however, the power to be transmitted is considerable, it is desirable toapply, either to the members 22, or to the rolls Tl, or to both, acovering of yielding material to increase the friction. In Fig. l l haveshown such a-covering in the form of rubber rings 73 applied tothecrimping members A coil spring Tat operates to return the roll casingTU after it has been operated by the treadle and this return movement islimited by an ad'ustable stop 75 '(Fig. 9) carried by the sli e 69 andstriking against a shoulder on the casing (5. By properly limiting thereturn movement of the roll holder, the rolls 71 assist the rings 30 incentering the crimping member with respect to the chucks.

The operation of my machine is briefly as follows. The machine isadjusted for the length of can body to beoperated upon and power isapplied through the tight pulley 12 to rotate the spindle If the canbody is spirally wound, the machine will be found to operate moreetfectively with the spindle T rotatingin one directionthan whenrotat-.mg in the other, accordingly as the body is wound in a right or lefthand spiral. The proper direction of rotation is secured by shifting thecollar 8 to bring one or the other of the .mitre gears 9 into engagementwith the gear 10. One end of the can body 21 is inserted between themember 22 and chuck 20 of the lower forming head, which also serves as acan support, and the treadle 5st is depressed. Operating through thelinks and extension 22, the treadle swings the arm 49 on its pivot toraise the shaft l1 and, consequently, the lower forming head so as tocause the upper end of the can body to enter the space between thecrimping member and chuck of the upper forming head. This movement islimited by con- .tac't of the set. collar with the lower end of thebracket 43. Furthermovement of the treadle compresses the spring 46. Theconnecting rod 61 is drawn downwardly during the entire movement of thetreadle and its jam nuts 65 are so adjusted as to come in contact withthe lug 62 just at, or slightly after. the time the upward movement ofthe shaft 41 is arrested. Contact of the jam nuts 65 with the lug 62rocks the bellcrank lever 63 on its pivot, thus forcing the slide 69 andattached roll casing 70 forward to move the crimping members 22 intoeccentric relation to the chucks to reduce the ends of the can body, asshown in Fig. 10, by rolling pressure between said parts. It will benoted by reference to Fig. 5 that when the backing member 33 is set upagainst the end of the bearing 38, as shown in this figure, there isjust suificient room between said member and the shoulder 28 to preventbinding of the crimping member. With this adjustment, the end of the canbody will be turned over only suthciently to fill the slightly roundedcorner of the shoulder 28. When, however, it is desired to turn over theend of the can to greaterextent, the lock nut 35 is loosened and thebacking member 33 retracted a distance equal to the thickness of the canwall, after which it is secured in position by the lock nut. The end ofthe can may-now be forced into the space between the flange 27 andshoulder 28. It will, of course, be understood that with the latteradjustment, the set collar 44 must be moved to allow the forming headsto approach each other somewhat nearer for a given length of can bodythan when the end of the can is not turned over.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination with a pair ofchucks each adapted to enter one end of a can and provided with anannular crimping member, of a roll. adapted to simultaneously cooperatewith both said annular members to move them laterally and to communicatemotion from one to the other, and means for moving said chucks towardeach other, said means also operating said roll.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with a chuckadapted to enter a can body, of a crimping member surrounding said chuckand provided with an overlapping flange, the inner face of said flangebeing inclined, a yieldingly mounted annular member provided with aninclined face bearing on the inclined face of said flange, and anadjustable backing member for said annular member forming a positivestop for the crimping member.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with a chuckadapted to enter the can body, of a crimping member surrounding saidchuck and provided with an overlapping flange, the inner face of saidflange being inclined, a yieldingly mounted annular member provided withan inclined face bearing on the inclined face of said flange, and ananti-friction bearing for the inner face of said annular member.

4. In a device of the class described, the

combination with a chuck adapted to enter a can body and provided withan off-set, of a hollow crimping member surrounding said chuck andprovided with a corresponding off-set, said crimping member beingadapted I to be moved into eccentric. relation to said chuck, and abeveled spring actuated ring interposed between said chuck and crimpingmember for centering the latter.

5. In a device of the class described, the 'I' GHESLEY T. SMALL. L 8.

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